October 28 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 28 *

1862 – The First Kansas Colored Volunteers, while greatly
outnumbered, repulse and drive off a rebel force at Island
Mound, Missouri. This is the first engagement for African
American troops in the Civil War.

1873 – Patrick Healy becomes president of Georgetown University,
the oldest Catholic University in the United States and
becomes the first African American president of a
predominantly white university in the United States.

1914 – Omega Psi Phi fraternity is incorporated. Founded in 1911
by three students, Frank Coleman, Oscar J. Cooper and
Edgar A. Love and their faculty adviser, Ernest Everett
Just, the fraternity will grow to have over 90,000 members
in chapters throughout the United States and abroad.

1937 – Leonard Randolph “Lenny” Wilkens is born in Brooklyn, New
York. He will become a professional basketball player for
the St. Louis Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail
Blazers and Seattle Supersonics. He will also coach every
team for which he played. In 1995, he will surpass Red
Auerbach as the NBA winningest coach, with his 939th
victory. On March 1, 1996, he will become the first coach
to win 1,000 regular season games. He and John Wooden will
become the only two persons to be elected to the Basketball
Hall of Fame as a player and coach.

1948 – Telma Louise Hopkins is born in Louisville, Kentucky. She will
become a member of the 1970’s group, “Tony Orlando and Dawn”,
and later a television actress. She will be best known for
her roles in “Bosom Buddies,” “Gimme a Break!,” “Family
Matters,” “Getting By,” and “Half & Half.”

1965 – Earl Bostic, popular jazz alto saxophonist and winner of the
1959 Playboy Jazz poll, joins the ancestors in Rochester,
New York. The Tulsa, Oklahoma native had begun his career
in the Midwest and, after studying music and playing with
bands in the South, landed with Lionel Hampton’s big band,
among others.

1973 – Elmore Smith of the Los Angeles Lakers blocks 17 shots in a
game to establish a NBA record.

1981 – Edward M. McIntyre is elected as the first African American
mayor of Augusta, Georgia.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.